Socket wrench set



Dec. 29, 1931. J. P. FLEM'ING ,3 ,2

SOCKET WRENCH SET Fil ed March 28, 1928 G J I ML /9 jaw/ 22 1 76226129 Patented Dec. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH 1?. FLEMING, 0F WORCESTER, IvTASSACI-IUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 WAKEFIELD ALL-STEEL WRENCH COMPANY, INC CF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORA- TION' OF MASSACHUSETTS SOCKET WRENCH SET Application filed March 28, 1928. Serial No. 265,392.

The present invention relates to socket wrench sets, comprising a plurality of sockets of graduated sizes and a common handle or shank, which is provided for use, selectively, with any one of said socketed members.

ly invention resides in the compact assemblage of such a set in a specially constructed holder or container, the latter being of simple and inexpensive construction, and adapted to prevent accidental displacement of the parts of the set while permitting them to be removed, when desired, with the utmost ease.

Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the improved holder, with the wrench parts assembled therein.

Fig. 2 is a view in sideelevation of the assembly.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the device, seen from the left in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, looking at the other end of the device, and showing the retaining member in diiferent positions.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

A socket wrench set of the type referred to provides, as is well known, a plurality of similarly shaped socket members 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, graduated in size, and each having a nut or bolt-receiving socket, here shown as hexagonal in form and adapted to fit a given size of nut or bolt, ranging from a large nut or bolt, for which the member 1 is provided, to a small nut or bolt. for which the member 6 is provided,-intermediate sizes being taken care of by the socket members 2 to 5 inclusive. These socket members are graduated not only as to diameter, but also, oftentimes, as to depth or thickness, and each provides, in addition to its socketed nut-engaging portion, a polygonal opening 7 all of the openings 7 being of the same size and shape, so as to be capable of operative engagement with the similarly shaped handle or shank member 8, common to all of said socket members.

As here shown, the openings 7 are hexagonal and the handle member 8 is of hexagonal section to fit all of said openings 7. Preferably, as shown in Fig. 1, one end of the shank or handle 8 is bent at right angles, as indicated at 9; either end of the ,handle can be inserted in any of the socket members, depending upon whether the long portion or the short portion of the handle is to be used as a lever arm.

According to the invention, I provide a shallow tray or holder 10, preferably made from a single elongated piece of sheet metal, whose longitudinal edges are bent up to provide parallel side walls 11, 11', and whose ends are similarly bent up to provide end walls 12, 12, desirably of substantially the same height as the side walls.

The tray 10 is of a length and width sufficient to receive the bent handle member 8 laid flatwise therein, as shown in Fig. 1, and the remaining area of the bottom of said tray accommodates the socket members 1 to 6 inclusive, when laid in a row with their sides against said bottom and their ends against that wall 11 which is farthest removed from the handle 8. For a reason that will hereinafter appear, the socket members 1 to 6 are disposed in the tray 10 with the largest member 1 to the extreme left as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, said socket member 1 being adjacent the end wall 12, and the remaining sockets 2 to 6 inclusive gradually descreasing in size toward the other end of the tray, so that the smallest member 6 is adjacent the short portion 9 of the handle 8. If the socket members are all of the same depth. or thickness, the engagement of their ends with the handle 8 will prevent their endwise movement on the tray bottom; otherwire, such endwise shifting or displacement can readily be prevented by striking up from the material of said tray bottom a plurality of suitably located tongues or projections 13, 14, the former engaging one end of the socket members 5 and 6, and the latter engaging one end of the socket members 2, 3 and 4, and each projection holding those socket members which it engages against the side wall 11 of the tray. It will be obvious that the exact arrangement of the projections 13 and 14 may be varied at will, the arrangement shown being merely illustrative of one particular embodiment of the invention. In similar fashion a tongue 15 also struck up from the bottom of the tray may be advantageously used to contact with the side of the smallest socket member 6, thereby to prevent any rolling of said socket members lengthwise of said tray, and although the socket member 1 needs no struck-up portion to hold it in position because of its greater depth, such a portion 16 is provided to separate it from the handle 8, for a reason which will now be apparent.

In order to frictionally hold the interchangeable socket members in position, the handle 8 provides at each end the customary spring-pressed ball 17, one of these balls being located on the outer fiat side near the end of the long portion of said handle, as shown. in Figs. 1 and 2. Besides having the use just set forth, said spring-pressed ball 17' is adapted, when the wrench parts are located in the tray 10, to partially enter a hole or interior depression 18 provided in the side wall 11 of the tray, the long end of the handle 8 being thus friotionally held in position in the tray, and the ball 17 being prevented from movement beyond the location of said hole under normal conditions by the struck-up portion 16 of the tray which backs up the handle.

The long end of the handle 8 being thus disengageably held in position, it is contemplated likewise to hold all the members 1 to 6 inclusive and the short end of the handle 8 with a common retaining means. To that end, the end walls 12, 12 of the tray 10 are provided with matched slots 19, 19, which open at corresponding ends into large subtantially triangular apertures 20, 20, each Of the latter having a bottom edge as a. continuation of the bottom edge of slot 19, an upright end edge, and a curved boundary edge 21. The matching slots 19,19, serve for the holding in position of a metal band 22, which extends substantially straight across the tops of the sockets 1 to 6, substantially engaging each one of them because of the fact that they are arranged in descending order as to height, said metal band 22 having a curved portion 23 which extends around the socket member 1, and a pair of depending portions 2 1 and 25 which terminate in inwardly extending portions 26 and 27, respectively, that fit in the slots 19, 19. It will thus e seen that each of the socket members is held in position in the tray 10, while the short end 9 of the handle 8 cannot be moved upwardly out of the tray so long as the flat metal member 22 isin the position show-n in Figs. 1 and 2.

The member 22 is normally held in the position shown in. Figs. 1, 2 and 3 by means of outwardly pressed portions 28 and 29, formed in the respective end walls 12 and 12 of the tray, but a. slight exertion of force with the fingers at each end is suflicient to slide the member 22 bodily sidewise of the tray until the sides of the inwardly projecting portions 26 and 27 engage the vertical end edges of the openings 20, 20. The member 22 is then rocked downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 4 in dotted lines, one edge of the portions 26 and 27 pivoting at the corner provided by the unction ofthe upright and bottom edges of the openings 20, and the other side of the portions 26 and 27 moving across the arcuate edges 21. Such movement, as will be readily apparent, serves to move upwardly that end of the handle member 8 which includes the short portion 9, because of the engagement of inwardly extending portion 27 therewith and its'movement to a-vertical position, as 5:

shown in Fig. 4, and then the handle 8 may be easily removed from the tray by merely pulling it out, the ball 17 then slipping out of the hole 18, and likewise, any one of the socket members 1 to 6, inclusive, may be removed for use with said handle member.

I claim:

1. A tray or container for the reception on its bottom of the interchangeable socket members and cOmmon handle member of a socket wrench set, each end of said tray having an elongated slot therein, with an opening of greater height in communication with said slot, and a longitudinal retainer interlocked at its ends with said slots to normally overlie and hold said wrench set members in said tray, said retainer being slidable transversely to carry its ends into the said openings, thereby to permit rocking of said retainer into a position removed from overlying relation to said tray, and means responsive to said rocking movement for procuring the elevation of said handle member at one end above the bottom of said tray.

2. A holder comprising a receptacle, end walls on said receptacle having elongated slots therein, a bail normally extending over said receptacle and having ends engaging said slots, each of said ends having a flat surface whereby said bail is held against turning movement by engagement of said flat sur face with one side of said slot, each of said slots opening at one end into an opening of greater height than the width of the bail ends, said bail being slidable transversely in i said slots to. carry the ends thereof into the said openings whereby to remove said fiat surface from engagement with the side of the said slot and to permit turning of said bail into a position removed from overlying rela-i tion to said receptacle.

Dated this 26th day of March, 1928.

- JOSEPH P. FLELIING. 

